Monday, 24 September 2007

Tip of the Day

Do not work with a mohair blend whilst wearing a fleece jacket. I now look like I spent the last half-hour doing something unspeakable to an angora goat.

In fact I was crocheting the MIL's Christmas pressie - a soft grey shell scarf in Sirdar Blur. I was originally going to have a crack at knitting a lace scarf, but after the Father's Cursed Scarf of Doom kicked my arse, I decided to draw in my horns and be a little less ambitious. Unfortunately I decided to work from a leftover stash ball of Blur, but then realised there was no way I was going to have enough. So I whilst looking for wedding footwear in Lichfield, I popped into the very tempting Lichfield Needlecraft Centre for another ball. Of course, I forgot to take the ball band. Duh. Taking a risk, I got a ball, to find it is so much darker in shade that at first I thought I'd bought the wrong colour. Thanks very much Sirdar! Normally dyelots are so subtly different that you can't distinguish by eye, only when it's knitted up, but in this case there is about 5 shades difference. Bugger. So I have thrown caution to the wind and am working alternately from the two balls, with uneven numbers of rows so I don't get stripes. Seems to be working so far, I'm getting a sort-of variegated effect as Blur is multi-shaded anyway. Fingers crossed.

All I'm worried about now is whether the MIL will find it itchy...well, she'll just have to wear a polo neck!

Other NewsThe brother-in-law's wedding passed off without any noticeable hiccups, i.e. the bride turned up (always a good start) and she was early! I didn't swear in church, neither did I fall asleep, both of which are quite major victories, and the DH (best man) didn't lose the rings and did a jolly good job on the speech. The happy couple are now ensconced in Switzerland, presumably looking at mountains and eating chocolate, or whatever it is you do in Switzerland.